Content description

REEL 1 Experiences as POW of Japanese on Burma -Thailand railway 1942-1945: starvation diet despite abundance of country; POWs' health and availability of medicine; [much background noise] Japanese attitude towards POWs' medical situation; difficulty of supplies further up railway line; how POWs fared in Singapore and in different parts of Thailand; incessant Japanese exploitation of POWs; various aspects of POW experience in Changi, Singapore and in Thailand [almost inaudible]; POW officers' varying attitudes towards role as POW; POW survival dependent upon age and weight.
REEL 2 Continues: question of height of Japanese with illustrative anecdote; family discussion of Japanese playing rugby [much background noise]; Takanu's callous attitude towards fate of sick POWs; disbelief in Japanese role as liberators and examples of Japanese exploitation of countries invaded; current relations between British and Japanese; question of pre-war insulation of Japanese and effect on decision to go to war; POW behaviour with Japanese and beatings received.

Over two million American servicemen passed through Britain during the Second World War. In 1944, at the height of activity, up to half a million were based there with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Their job was to man and maintain the vast fleets of aircraft needed to attack German cities and industry.